Dobzhansky, Theodosius (1900–1975)

Ukrainian-born US geneticist who established evolutionary genetics as an independent discipline. He showed that genetic variability between individuals of the same species is very high and that this diversity is vital to the process of evolution.

His book Genetics and the Origin of Species (1937) was the first significant synthesis of Darwinian evolutionary theory and Mendelian genetics. Dobzhansky also proved that there is a period when speciation is only partly complete and during which several races coexist.

Dobzhansky was born in Nemirov and studied at Kiev. After teaching at Kiev and Leningrad universities, he went to the USA in 1927. He was at the California Institute of Technology 1929–40. He became professor of zoology at Columbia University, New York City, 1940; worked at the Rockefeller Institute (later the Rockefeller University) 1962–71; then he moved to the University of California at Davis.

His book Mankind Evolving (1962) had great influence among anthropologists. He wrote on the philosophical aspects of evolution in The Biological Basis of Human Freedom (1956) and The Biology of Ultimate Concern (1967).